AROUND THE WORLD.

U.S. Embassy plot by rebels is foiled

LIMA, PERU — An official said Saturday that a planned attack by leftist rebels on the U.S. Embassy in the capital was foiled and two alleged plotters were arrested.

"On Nov. 20, two alleged Shining Path terrorists were arrested and were found to have on them sketches of the U.S. Embassy and other buildings linked to the United States," Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi told RPP radio.

The Maoist Shining Path waged a brutal war on the state in the 1980s and 1990s. But a crackdown on subversion and the capture of the rebel group's founder, Abimael Guzman, in 1992 have reduced it to a few bands of stragglers, officials say.

"It seems . . . they were going to try to attack the U.S. Embassy and other buildings on Dec. 3," Rospigliosi said. Police were searching for other suspects in the plot.